PARLIAMENT

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Housing & Sustainable Cities

The Greens goal is for all Australians to have access to safe, secure, sustainable and affordable housing. The housing affordability crisis in Australia has come to define this generation. Successive governments have failed to keep up with the housing needs of a diverse, growing and ageing population or the unprecedented housing stress in boom towns. We are advocating for new and long term solutions that increase choice and security of tenure, and provide diverse types of housing in the places we want to live.

We are working toward increasing the supply of affordable housing instead of artificially stimulating demand, and believe it’s long past time to re-examine the taxation treatment of housing which has promoted housing as just another asset class, rather than housing as a human right.

With rising temperatures predicted to more than double the number of deaths caused by heatwaves, the heat-isle effect of our buildings can become deadly. Conversely, the presence of trees in our city can reduce the heat and save lives. Scott Ludlam asks the government if it is making use of this knowledge in any way at all.

"A fortnight ago I rose in here to share my frustration and anger at the course set by our elected government over the past six months. I have been genuinely overwhelmed by the response. I apologise if you are still waiting for a reply to your email or Facebook message. Most of all, I thank you for sharing it. Without you, it would just be me talking to an almost empty room. You know who you are, and now we also know that, despite the daunting obstacles we face, we are many."